The Little Stone Church That RocksSermon given at the Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church September 11, 2016 by The Rev. Craig M. Nowak

Today we begin year four of our ministry together here at the Brookfield Unitarian Universalist Church (BUUC), “The little stone church that rocks.”

Now, when I first heard BUUC referred to as “The Little Stone Church That Rocks” I didn’t know what it meant or even the origin of that description. At first, I assumed it had to do with music. Later I discovered its origin, which I asked our DRE Laurel Burdon to summarize for me this morning. This is what she said,

Around 2003, as part of a Unitarian Universalist Associations (UUA) Healthy Congregations initiative, Rev. Sara, Barb Hale, Donna Sullivan, Dick Spence and I attended a workshop at Ferry Beach...for several days. Early on in our work there, it was acknowledged that the BUUC team was the only group that was laughing and having fun together. Several people commented that they wanted to sit with us because we were having a great time. The leader of the workshop told us that "we rocked." We said something like, “that’s because we're from the little stone church. At the end of the workshop the leader addressed us as the team from "The Little Stone Church That Rocks.”

Laughing. Having fun together. Hardly experiences typically associated with church or church communities. But is that alone what makes a church, “rock”? Well, it doesn’t hurt, but if that’s all it is, then I should do a stand up routine instead of deliver sermons here on Sundays. But I don’t (or at least I try not to.)

We gather not as a comedy club, but as a church…a church that rocks! So what makes BUUC, this little stone church that rocks, rock?

Before we can answer that in way that will make sense, we have to consider the question you were invited to respond to in our intergenerational reading…What does it take to transform a gathering of people into a faith community? Let’s see what some of what you said…Love….Commitment…Working Together…Trust…Work…Hope…Love again…Yes…very good. Great responses. I like it.

Now, these are all wonderful responses…as I’m sure all the others are, for they reflect, I imagine, what you observe, bring, strive or hope for in being a part of this community.

In my own reflection on this, it occurred to me that like our building, which needs an architect, builders and mortar be transformed from a pile of rocks into a solid, functional building, we need parallel elements to be transformed from a gathering of people to a gathered community of faith.

So who or what are these parallels elements in terms of a faith community?

Well, let’s start with an architect. In our interactive reading we said an architect was needed to envision a design. Considering aesthetics and functionality, the architect is ultimately tasked with communicating in physical form the intended use of the building. Who or what do you imagine the architect is in the context of a faith community? How many of you thought, the mission?

Just as an architect communicates a building’s intended use through his/her design, a mission communicates a community’s intended purpose through its design…an intentional, well formed statement articulating the reason for the community’s existence….

BUUC’s mission, printed on our OOS each week is…

“…to support and promote the principles of Unitarian Universalism. By nurturing spirituality, intellectual growth, diversity of belief, and our ties to one another, we seek to inspire lives of passion compassion and community. We do this for ourselves and for the larger world.”

Like an architect of a church building, the mission of a church community envisions a design to inspire and facilitate engagement in ministry.

Now to the builders. We said to transform a pile of rocks into a church building we need builders, contractors and tools to make room for every stone. Who or what do you suppose the builders that help transform a group of people into a faith community are? Who or what helps make room for every person? This one is not as easy to see immediately. Most plainly, the builders, contractors and tools are the structures created, filled and utilized to enable and support participation in this community. Things like staffing, committees, bylaws, budgets, policies, fundraising and stewardship, the form of our worship, and maintenance of our building, to name but a few.And as it is sometimes necessary to replace contractors, engage other builders or try another tool to maintain, repair or expand a physical building, so too is it necessary to change or modify the structures a community employs to make room for every person. We do this through term limits for elected offices, adoption of new or modification of existing policies and changes responsive to deepened engagement with our mission and awareness of cultural and technological shifts.

Changes like becoming an official Welcoming Congregation when a significant number of faith communities still shun LGBTQ members and families, including children in worship and choir as respected participants rather than cute distractions, expanding our efforts on social media and community engagement to reach out beyond our walls, and exploring ways to increase the physical accessibility of this space. Those are just some of the ways we have and continue to engage in the maintenance, repair and expansion of the structures that enable and support participation in this community.

And now we come to the mortar. This is where we get religious. Now, a lot of us don’t like that word, “religious.” We’ve heard others say, or perhaps said it ourselves, “I’m spiritual but not religious.” “Religious” is often taken to mean dogmatic, self-righteous, judgmental, narrow-minded or superstitious. But that’s not being religious, that’s just using religion as an excuse to be dogmatic, self-righteous, judgmental, narrow-minded or superstitious.

The word religion comes to us from a couple of Latin roots, one of which (religare) means, “to bind together.” In most other churches around us locally and throughout the United States the mortar that holds their community together is a common theological belief or creed.

Yet Unitarians, Universalists and today Unitarian Universalists, have long asserted and continue to affirm, as my colleague Alan Taylor has said, “A transforming religious community doesn't ask “What do you believe?” but instead “How shall we live?” And so it is the mortar of our faith community is not creed, but covenant.

A covenant is a solemn promise members of a community make to one another establishing the community’s standard for right relations. The current BUUC covenant is as follows,

“As we share our lives in this place of blessed community, we promise to unite in an atmosphere of care and support, provide a spiritual home for ourselves and our children, and work together in our search for truth and caring ways to be in community with each other both within and beyond these walls. We seek to embody a welcoming community of CARING- SUPPORT- and SERVICE. We therefor promise to: Treat each other with respect, trust and compassion. Actively listen to all points of view on important issues. Create an open environment for nonjudgemental participation. Honor dissenting views, agreeing to disagree. Make decisions with as much participation as possible. Accept that we all make mistakes. Forgive each other and move on. Express gratitude for the efforts of others. Work together to live by our Covenant. Try to the best of our ability to live by our Unitarian Universalist Principles and Purposes, affirming our tradition of service and justice for all.”

The spirit of that promise… of our covenant… is echoed in the affirmation we say together each time we gather for worship. As the mortar that holds this community together, its aspirations stretch both vertically toward our mission and horizontally across our lived experience in community, both within these walls and beyond.

With more intentional commitment it holds us in creative tension inspiring us toward greater risk and the potential for deeper spiritual growth and maturity. Covenant, along with mission and organizational structure, help transform a gathering of people into a community of faith. But they aren’t what makes this, or any community of faith, rock.

You, through your commitment to this community, are what makes this church rock. For the little stone church that rocks to rock..you have to rock.

Your attention to the mission of the church determines if and how well the purpose, the stated reason this faith community’s existence, is communicated in here and to the wider world. Your participation in the structures that support the mission determines if and how well the community’s resources are utilized in service to the mission. And, most importantly, your commitment to our covenant determines if and how well this community will - be - in the world.

Buildings made of stone look like they’ll last forever. But without regular maintenance, they won’t. The ancient ruins that dot the globe weren’t always ruins after all. Mortar is vulnerable to the elements.

Likewise, so are covenants. How well our BUUC covenant holds does not depend upon the grace of God, the decisions of outside religious authorities or even your minister. It requires something else.

Whenever I officiate at a wedding, I always include these words before the couple makes their vows, “At this time I remind you that the vows you are about to make belong entirely to you. My words have no magical powers, and nothing that I can say or do on this day can ultimately make your union endure with beauty, fidelity, and joy. Only you, with tender nurture and care, can make your vows last.” (adapted from words by Scott W. Alexander) A congregation’s covenant is not unlike a wedding vow, in that it too takes tender nurture and care to last.

Tender nurture and care. Easy to say, much harder to practice. And it is a practice, a spiritual practice, as the words “we pray” used repeatedly in our first reading remind us.

Aside from vows made in marriage, it is rare to hear of people actually living in covenant with anything or anyone. Most of us have lives which revolve around several loyalties, associations or obligations, some of which, truth be told, we’d eagerly give up if we felt we could. Some of these include things we do instead of or as reasons for not deepening our commitment or spiritual practice of covenant. Yet, I don't know anyone, myself and my colleagues included, who wouldn’t benefit from deepening one’s commitment or spiritual practice of covenant.

Our culture largely dismisses spiritual life lived in community as a quaint hobby for people with the time or those who feel obligated to provide their children some moral instruction outside the home. The message is it is something nice, even useful perhaps, but something that nonetheless doesn’t really matter. But it does. And we know it does.

We see the truth of it in our friends and family, our co-workers and neighbors and ourselves bearing the weight of a world of worries on their hearts and minds. Trying to make sense of a nonsensical world, hungry for depth in a sea of shallow communication, aching for meaning amidst the monotony of our daily routine.

And we feel it…I bet all us, from time to time…that sense that there has to be more to this life than what we can see in the midst of sorrow, pain, anger or angst. That we are more than the labels routinely applied us to by others, ourselves and society at large.

And then we remember this place. We remember this people. And that’s when….that’s when we know…that’s when we feel what makes the little stone church that rocks, rock. The way we are in community with one another. The way we are religious together. The way we live our covenant.

And so today I say come, be a part of this gathering of people transformed into a community of faith, walking together toward common purpose, building together to pave the way and loving together the practice of covenant. Let us join together, with renewed spirit and deepened commitment to making the little stone church that rocks, rock, not only for ourselves but for the wider world.